Saturday, October 12, 2013

Heartthrob Gulzar!

I am told every woman Gulzar meets, regardless of age, wants to elope with the poet!
I was tempted! Not that he asked.... but! Here we are at the Bangalore Lit Fest, on our way to the stage to felicitate Hari Prasad Chaurasia - the world's greatest living flautist. And that's Vikram Sampath, a key organiser of the BILF.
**************
This appeared in Mumbai Mirror today...

Meet the
‘QSQT’ lady….

Arundhati Bhattacharya created banking
history earlier this week when she was elevated to an exceptional position :
She became the first woman to head the 206-year-old State Bank of India. This
makes the 57-year-old banker one of the most powerful people – people , not
woman – in the world. As someone who has already featured on the prestigious
Fortune 500 list, all eyes will be on Ms. Bhattacharya as she confronts the
monumental challenges ahead. She has just three short years to tackle the
bloated problem of bad loans besides
overseeing the operations of a staggering 15,000 SBI branches . How did she
attain this position? Well – the old-fashioned way! She worked hard for 36 long
years.The appointment involved a tedious
process. In the final round, she beat three others vying for the coveted post
during the interview, and was anointed by the prime minister himself. For
someone who joined the bank as a lowly probationary officer in 1977, her rise
to the top of the pile has been steady and rock solid. During her uninterrupted
career with SBI, she has, of course,held positions of enormous responsibility in different capacities and been a part of breakthrough
launches in related businesses. The quote she is best known for is catchy and
unexpected. She advised people in the financial sector to get out of the “QSQT
culture”. In other words, to break out of the “ Quarter Se Quarter Tak”
mentality and look at the bigger picture. Married to a chartered accountant,
Arundhati has been a low key professional in an era of over hyped success
stories. While it is indeed remarkable that it is only in India that we so many
women heading gigantic banks ( eight, at last count), should one be going into
a euphoric trance over this highly privileged ladies club which is being cutely
referred to as “Lehman Sisters”? Why not? Goes one argument. Every single woman
in this league is there because she has earned that corner office.
Interestingly enough, nearly all these accomplished ladies fall into the
“conventional” , and dare I say it, even ‘homely’ category. They are a far cry
from the heavily caricatured career demons projected in American sit coms. Our
ladies don’t need to climb into unflattering business suits and drink beer with the boys at a friendly neighbourhood bar. They appear graceful and relaxed in
bright and beautiful sarees, as they negotiate shark infested waters with
aplomb, without having to change their body language or yell the competition
down. Yes, they are tough. Theirs jobs demand teeth and talons. But the ones I
know are endearingly soft spoken and don’t need to flaunt a ‘take me seriously’
fake attitude. This is what separates the girls from the women.

If
only more of our corporate ladies took their cues from individuals like
Arundhati Bhattacharya, there’d be less stress at the workplace. Our
advertising further compounds the problem by consistently projecting career women in a certain stereotypical light
– those hideous suits, that awful attitude. There is rarely any hint of a
family life in these depictions – no kids, no spouse, no in- laws. Just terrifying, robotic battle axes sporting
sleek, no nonsense hair and unfussy make up. Their nails are short and painted
in nude shades. They carry their iPads in discreet designer covers. Everything
about their lives looks hellishly organized and scarily subdued. But the
reality of our banking ladies is entirely different. I have been to some of
their homes. I have met their children and in-laws, their husbands and staff
members.There is nothing exaggerated about their daily routines.

It will be interesting to monitor
Arundhati’s three years as Chairperson of SBI. She will, of course, be expected
to announce certain bold and innovative measures soon. In that, she will be
compared to the new RBI Guv, who has already set the ball in motion with his
global thinking and experience. But unlike Raghu, who has been converted into a
glam poster boy of the drab banking world ( I plead guilty!), Arundhati is
likely to be left alone to get on with her job without having to worry about
presenting her best angle during photo-ops. As a hardnosed professional,
Arundhati will have to go out there and recover at least some of those bad
loans. That’s going to be one hell of a call for her given the current the
state of corporate India. But if anybody can pull it off, it’s this modest,
hard working and brainy lady with her sensible QSQT approach.

13 comments:

hahaha. So you were tempted to elope with Gulzar, though he didn't ask you. It's this 'devil may care' attitude of yours which irks people who read what you write. Just wondering.....does your hubby read what you write ?

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The entrance exam for the role of a "lowly probationary officer" is extremely challenging to say the least. There is absolutely nothing lowly about Arundhati Bhattacharya passing that stressful exam....

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